Over the last three months Ryan and I have visited a lot of places in a short time, therefore when we arrived back in La Paz originally planning to stay for 2 nights, we decided that we might actually stay for three. This number kept expanding and we ended up in La Paz for 6 nights of just enjoying what the city has to offer, while enduring the bitter 'summer' cold (it was -3C one morning when we woke up). La Paz was by no means our favorite city/town, nor did we find all that much to do, but it did offer us the best chance to relax and feel a little less like long term travelers. We were able to shop at a 'real' supermarket, cook our own meals at our hostel, order a take away pizza, get 'real' coffees (surprisingly difficult in South American) and catch up with old friends. While this all seems relatively frivolous when you can be climbing a glacier, hiking a canyon, surfing at sunrise or dune buggy rides at an oasis we have found it quite important to come back to reality and remind you of what we love about home (wherever that is).
During our time in La Paz we have done a large amount of wandering around and just exploring the streets, which has been very enjoyable. We have seen some impressive street art, enjoyed the beautiful old building and their colorful painted walls. While some may look a little derelict and long neglected, there was a definite beauty to be found on the streets of La Paz.
Another quirk of La Paz in the Zebras, which is a select group (apparently very hard to get in) of people dressed up in Zebra outfits and who help direct traffic and pedestrians. They are a very enthusiastic bunch and when Ryan asked if he could have a quick picture with one, about 5 jumped into the shot all posing for the camera.
Another thing we take for granted when at home is picking up take away and curling up on the couch with a bottle of wine and a movie. We were very happy when we noticed that there was a little take away pizza place just near our hostel, so we wandered down one night and picked up a pizza with the lot and rushed it back to the hostel to beat the cold. Back at the hostel we selected a movie from the extensive collection (all pirated) and bought a bottle of bolivian wine from the small selection they had there at the hostel. We had a great night sitting up and I even managed to sneak back the largest (and richest) piece of chocolate cake we have on the trip, which we couldn't even managed to finish!
After do some research on trip advisor we found a place called Sabor Cubano, or in English Cuban flavor, which we went to with some friends from Uni who happened to be in La Paz at the same time as us (hi Katie and Munz). While there are cheaper places to eat, two large meals still only set us back $9. We ended up back a Sabor Cubano multiply times as the Cuban sandwiches and shredded beef were out of this world. We also managed to try the Cuban lamb stew, steak sandwich and a cocktail or two! On our last afternoon in La Paz we decided to have one last meal at our favorite restaurant only to be disappointed that it didn't open on Sundays, oh well, we will have to go back next time we are in La Paz.
One reason we decided to stay a little longer in La Paz was a craft brewery tour run by the adventure brew hostel, so we changed hostels and book onto their tour before catching our bus to Tupiza. The tour started with us piling onto an old bus with 12 other people and driving 45 mins from the city to a small town in a beautiful valley. Then we all jumped out and walked into what seemed like a large backyard attached to a small building, the owner of the brewery meet us and took us straight inside to give us the brewery 'tour.' The 'tour' would more realistically described as the owner pointing at pieces of equipment and naming them until we got to the beer keg, when he started to pour the beers (with way too much head considering he should be an expert pour). He then passed around a beer to each person and pointed back at the keg and told us to help ourselves as he wanted the keg empty. Despite the foam, the beer was a rather good pilsner style beer and as a group we quickly finished up the keg, only for him to attach a new beer which was another tasty amber wheat beer. The beer keep flowing until the beer boiled sausages and onion hot dogs were ready, which we then moved out to the back yard to enjoy with more jugs of the remaining types of beers made at the brewery.
Another thing we wanted to make time for in La Paz was a little exercise, however at +4000m running was out of the question - we certianly aren't that fit! While we were lucky enough to escape altitude sickness we have found that even walking up the slightest hill has sped up our heart rates, turning a brisk walk into exercise. So early in the morning we managed a couple of powerwalks through the city to this board walk we found with excellent views out over the city. Not sure if our efforts combat all the beer and Cuban food but it was a good start.
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